SYNOPSIS:

Against the backdrop of one of America's Great Depressions, poor children are going without medical care. A Good Samaritan, Velma, has a plot to help them. Her scheme brings her together with a bumbling but good-hearted medical intern who falls in love with Velma and falls in line with her altruistic plans. Together they stand up for the little guy and kick an inefficient and uncaring health care system in the butt.

PRESS:

RECOMMENDED - “The ghosts of silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin seem to hover over this hilarious Chicago debut by Bootstraps Comedy Theater. No words are spoken, though they're sometimes mouthed and/or printed in projected titles, and a two-man band plays live. Writer-director Matt Lyle stays just this side of sentimentality with his simple story, set in the 1930s but resonant today, about three sick children too poor to get medical care. Among the absurd high points: a gorilla that acts like a cat, a beetle-browed orderly who chases our heroes around an oversize toy train, and an intern who fails to diagnose a hugely pregnant patient. --Laura Molzahn ”
Laura Molzahn – The Chicago Reader

“Dubbed “A Silent Film On Stage” by writer/director Matt Lyle, “The Better Doctor” seamlessly mixes recent healthcare reform headlines with silent-era film sensibilities for impressively entertaining results.”
Zach Freeman – NewCity

3 STARS - “Created and directed by Dallas transplant Matt Lyle, the show invents a staged silent film that is at once entirely original — and an obvious piece of agitprop about health care for the uninsured — while retaining the narrative playfulness and simplicity of films of that era. It's as if there really was a silent movie called "The Better Doctor" sitting in a dusty warehouse somewhere. ... The rule of thumb in this genre is highly physical, exaggerated acting with a strong clown underpinning... [A] high-spirited riff on the Hippocratic oath: First, make the audience laugh.”
Nina Metz – The Chicago Tribune

VIDEO:

Promo Video for THE BETTER DOCTOR
produced by Bootstraps Comedy Theater and The Silent Theatre Co.